ABRAHAM LINCOLN VAMPIRE HUNTER – Timur Bekmambetov
First off, with a title like that, one would think it is the stupidest, craziest, off-the-wall idea ever created! I know this is based on a very popular book (which I have not read), so I couldn’t compare the two, which I feel is maybe best at this point. For those who have not read the book, the film is pretty much what the title says.
Our 16th President had a “special” life before he ran our country, before law school, and before he was even married. There was a darkness that came over this country we “supposedly” never knew about. A darkness the History books didn’t teach us in school. That darkness is; Vampires are real and want to take over the country!
Honest Abe is 9 yrs. old when he secretly witnesses his mother being killed by a vampire. Nothing much he can do about it at the time. Ten yrs. later, Abe (played by Benjamin Walker), wants revenge against Jack Barts (played by Marton Csokas), who killed his mother. However, while he attempts this, a stranger out of the darkness interrupts their fight. Henry Sturgess (played by Dominic Cooper), understands Abe’s hatefulness towars Barks and knows all about revenge, but he can’t let Abe just go around trying to kill something he knows nothing about. So Henry shows Abe the ways of the Vampire Slayer and with a mighty ax he sets out for Springfield where he works as a store clerk by day, vampire slayer by night. He can only kill those Henry says and not anyone before.
It is here Abe goes into law, meets future wife Mary Todd (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and sets the road for politics and becomes our 16th President. However, there is a small problem. It appears the South is being run by vampires lead by their leader, Adam (Rufus Sewell), who wants to run the country with nothing but vampires. It is up to Abe, Mary, Henry, and Abe’s two friends; Will Johnson (a former slave) and Joshua Speed (Abe’s partner at the store he works at) to put a stop to this dreadful deed. Will Honest Abe save the country from a vampire invasion? To find out I recommend Abraham Lincoln vampire hunter.
This is not the “best” vampire film ever to come out, yet its not bad either. It is a crazy idea, yet I found it entertaining and edge of your seat action. Effects are really good, the 3-D was fairly well done, and it was interesting how history weaved it’s way through the story. It did, however, drag for a bit as he raises to the Oval Office and some of the history facts had to be told, but for the most part it was fun. I do find it funny, tho, that every vampire movie seems to have characters that know how to fight Martial Arts or like Buffy, but hey, it’s part of the fun. It’s worth a watch and a break from the heat outside.